OT: Norton NRV588 - Rotary Powered Superbike

[feds27]

With a 170bhp rotary engine and 130kg kerb weight, the NRV588 should offer amazing performance!

The now-legendary rotary-engined Norton F1 from the early ’90s could possibly make a comeback. The mega-expensive (about US$45,000 back then…) F1 had a liquid-cooled 588cc rotary engine that produced 95bhp@9500rpm. The racebike based on the F1, the Norton F1 RCW588, won the British F1 series in 1989, and was also raced at the Isle of Man.

Now, there’s an all-new Norton – the NRV588 prototype – powered by a 170-horsepower Wankel rotary engine. Displayed at the recent NEC show in the UK, the new bike has been developed by Brian Crighton, the man behind the Norton racing team in the late-1980s and early-1990s. The machine is essentially based on the old F1 and the National Motorcycle Museum in the UK (where some of the old Norton rotary racers are displayed) has paid for development costs!

The engine is still a 588cc twin-rotor Wankel unit, but now it gets fuel injection, variable inlet tracts, and fly-by-wire technology. Chassis is a Spondon-made twin-spar aluminium frame and the front forks are Ohlins-made. The bike weighs in at a featherweight 130kg, and with 170bhp on tap, performance should be phenomenal. Here’s hoping the bike makes it past the prototype stage and gets into production. Should make for one hell of a giant-killing superbike!



Has anyone heard of any developments since this 11/27/06 article?

[feds27]

More info:

http://www.realclassic.co.uk/norton06120100.html

[lightfighter]

the mazda wankels are sooo smooth, that would be a blast in a street bike.

[Fenring]

I like it, but I wonder if they would be able to homologize it for the races and in what class?

Here's another interesting rotary engine: www.quasiturbine.com. Still in development. It's based on wankel's rotary, but improved.

[branners]

It would be fascinating to see whether the bike would be allowed to race as a Superbike. Even if the same engine capacity rules as is applied to most Mazda engines is applied (ie, double the swept volume of the rotors) the wankel would come in under the proposed/hoped for 1200cc engine limit for twins.
As for producing enough road bikes, surely the precedent has been set by the Petronas team. The 900cc three-cylinders raced for years, but has anyone ever seen a road bike?

[Moybin]

The Norton is sleek and sweet! As much as I love odd-ball and different bikes, that's one that I would love to ride (though can't afford - unless you mopes buy more of my books).

The qausiturbine is also interesting, but it suffers from one insurpassable barrier: it's a Carnot cycle. Most that one can expect from such an engine is about 50% thermal efficiency. While it will have interesting applications as a air motor and possibly a steam engine in a combined-cycle power plant, I don't think it will reach major production as a fuel-burning engine. Just not enough improvement in efficiency for the tooling costs.

Go Norton!

[on2wheels52]

I like Norton's as much (maybe more) as the next guy but I wish they'd let it die in '76 like it wanted to. A good argument for a living will.
Jim